Issue - meetings

Report of the Electoral Registration Officer

The Chief Executive, Andrew North, introduced the report and advised Members that every five years the council has to undertake a review of its polling places and polling stations and that this would be undertaken next year.  Such a review needs to consider how easy it is for voters to reach a polling station; that the station is located in the polling district it serves if at all possible; and that there is disabled access to the premises.  However, the council can consider interim reviews if it is felt that there is an issue with a specific polling station. 

Councillor Sudbury had advised him that the voters of EA polling district had felt that the proximity of the polling station needed to improve, and that she had come up with the proposal to use the Church of the Latter Day Saints.  Currently those in EA polling district vote at Sacred Hearts Church.  He advised Members that he had placed a copy of the locations on the map on the display board in the chamber and Members may wish to look at the map prior to making a decision.  Although neither he nor his team had received complaints about the use of the current location, and the ward was one with a higher turnout in elections than other wards, he was happy that the proposal would be a suitable location and therefore had undertaken an interim review.

He advised Members that there had been only two responses, although as Councillor Hall had previously indicated in her question during Member question time, there had been some issues with the information on the website.  One elector was very opposed to the suggested change of location, and the other, although happy for the station to move, had suggested the alternative location of the Lido.  The report sets out the implications of this alternative suggestion.

Given the low response rate and that there was no support for the proposal, he was recommending that the polling station should not change for voters in EA polling district but that it would be reviewed next year as part of the borough wide review.

As there were no questions the Mayor moved to the substantive debate.

Councillor Hall, as the ward councillor for the area, advised that she canvasses the area on a regular basis and listens to the issues of the electors.  Apart from one elector, the location of the polling station had not been raised as an issue.  She felt that the location of a second porta-cabin at the Lido was not an option as the car park was already congested on the day of an election.  She was pleased that no changes had been made to the polling station location and that it would form part of the borough wide review.

Councillor Sudbury explained why she had asked for the review to be undertaken.  She had been contacted by several electors, and reminded Members that the polling district goes down to College Road/Hewlett  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10